Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

It looks like you're printing too hot/fast. Do you have a minimum layer time set? Also, is the fan running (and be sure it's blowing onto the print, not onto the nozzle, and blowing, not sucking air from the print area.

Illuminarti - As you can see there was a definite improvement with speed reduction. I did do a print at 60% speed but results were better working at 50%. Tomorrow I will try dropping the speed even lower. However it does seem to be very extreme to print at such a slow speed. These prints all took 65 minutes each. The fan seems to be working correctly though and minimal layer time is set to 5.

Gr5 - I cant see any obvious problems with the nozzle (See picture link above) but I will order a new one to be on the safe side. The nozzle could be at least part of the problem as the print always has the most issues at the back on the left hand side. This can sometimes be kept to a minimum by increasing the feed rate as you can see.

Will try the water test tomorrow and let you know the results

Big thanks to both of you, I will look forward to reading your response.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

It seems to get worse as you go higher - which is when the fan is on. So maybe it's too much cooling causing problems extruding. It looks a bit blobby for that, like there's too much plastic, rather than not enough, but I'm not sure... So try a print at the 50º speed, but with the fan totally off, and see if that makes any difference.

Then as a second test, when slicing, in expert settings, under 'Retraction, set minimum travel = 1, turn off the enable combing option, and set minimal extrusion to 0. Then try printing that. I don't think that will help much, but I want to rule out slicing oddities.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

That is a very strange looking nozzle. It has a huge flat area. And it's more spherical - mine is more shaped like a cone. Are you sure it's a .4mm nozzle? If that's a .2mm nozzle with a 2mm flat area...

There's something weird with this nozzle. Here are 2 pics of the nozzle that came with my ULtimaker Original. It works great!

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The damage you saw should never happen. Only if it got damaged by hitting or being hit by something harder than brass. Iron/steel/diamond - something like that. If it hit a screw head (like the screws holding the build plate) for example you could probably damage it instantly.

You are more likely to have gradual gunk problems inside the nozzle. Many people have been very happy when replacing their nozzles - their old nozzle gradually got more and more clogged over a year.

Our picks

The goal of this contest is to design a set of people figurines that could be used in such a project to make an area, office or mall seem populated.
Think of different types of people in different environments, like walking people, people standing still, working people, and both men and women.

31 replies

Picked By

This is a statement that’s often made about AM/3DP. I'll focus on the way DfAM can take advantage of some of the unique capabilities that AM and 3DP have to offer. I personally think that the use of AM/3DP for light-weighting is one of it’s most exciting possibilities and one that could play a key part in the sustainability of design and manufacturing in the future.